Kids under 18 years old would need a prescription to buy over-the-counter cough medicines like Robitussin in Ohio if a new billbecomes law.
House Bill 9 would outlaw the sale of products containing an ingredient called dextromethorphan (cough suppressant) to minors because it causes hallucinations in large doses. Most of the time, when a 13-year-old kid goes in and buys Robitussin, it s not because mom couldn t get to the store, Rep. Kyle Koehler, R-Springfield, said.
About 1 in 4 American teenagers say they know someone who has tried robotripping, according to a 2013 study by the Partnership for Drug Free Kids. Some teens even ingest multiple bottles in the hopes of getting high.
Tracy McArdle Brady is a published novelist, essayist and communications executive from Carlisle, Massachusetts.
She is the 2020 recipient of
She has worked on marketing campaigns for a variety of brands including Volkswagen, Hershey’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Bank of America and Partnership for Drug Free Kids. She also spent several years in New York and L.A. as a movie and television publicist with Turner Broadcasting, Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures.
Her writing has appeared in
Fortune, Adweek, The Boston Globe Magazine, Muse by Clio and more.
She is a mother of two boys and the author of two “widely unread, critically unacclaimed and financially disastrous novels” (